Idemitsu Kosan to cut January-March refinery runs by 1.25%

21 December 2009 16:12  [Source: ICIS news]

TOKYO (ICIS news)--Idemitsu Kosan, Japan’s third-largest refiner, plans to reduce crude runs by 1.25% in January-March 2010 compared with the same period the previous year due to sluggish domestic demand, the company said on Monday.

Idemitsu Kosan planned to process a total of 7.9m kilolitres of crude oil during the January-March period, which would be 100,000 kilolitres less than January-March 2009, it said.

This would be an 8% decrease from the corresponding period in 2008, Idemitsu said.

Domestic demand for fuel oils continued to be low due to the economic slump and a warmer-than-usual winter, the company added.

Idemitsu Kosan aimed to process 2.8m kilolitres of crude oil in January 2010, the same level as in January 2009, but down 8% from the same month in 2008, it said.

In November, the refiner said it expected to process 6.9m kilolitres of crude oil in October-December 2009, down 6% from the same period the previous year, due to sluggish domestic demand.

This was revised down from the company’s announcement in late September, when it said that it planned to process 7m kilolitres of crude oil in October-December 2009.

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By: Tomomi Yokomura
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